Web slitting machine



May 27, 1969 1-. w. BUSHNELL WEB SLITTING MACHINE Sheet of 2 Filed March6, 1967 INVENTOR. THOMAS W. BUSHNELL A TTORNEYS May 27, 1969 "r. w.BUSHNELL WEB SLITTING MACHINE Sheet Filed March 6. 1967 m w E V N @M, M,wi mm ATTORNEYS United States Patent U.S. Cl. 83-102 6 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE The invention provides an improved mechanism forslitting a paper web which is spirally wound in mill roll form whilewithdrawing from the roll one portion of the severed web. The mechanismcomprises a bracket swingable toward and away from the mill roll axisand pivotall-y mounting thereon a knife support arm to extend inswingable relation thereto and carrying a knife blade disposed to engagethe mill roll web to sever it longitudinally. The parts are so arrangedthat the knife cutting edge moves in the plane of the severed face ofthe unwound portion of the roll. The bracket member is controlled tomove relative to the mill roll web by a device providing bothknifecutting pressure regulation and bracket oscillation damping. Theknife support arm includes roller means riding on the unwinding portionof the web and is positionally adjustable thereon for regulation of thedepth of cut; and a spring device is operably associated with the bladesupport arm and the bracket to damp and cushion relative movementsthereof.

This invention relates to a web slitting mechanism; and moreparticularly to an improved means for slitting a paper web as it unwindsfrom a supply roll in conjunction with a printing operation or the like.The invention is of particular utility in that it makes feasible thepurchase and/ or stocking of standard width rolls of paper web (therebyeffecting substantial cost economies) and subsequent slitting from suchstandard width rolls the desired width web feed to a continuous printingprocess or the like, while leaving on the roll core in undisturbedcondition the remaining width of web supply material for subsequent use.This precludes the necessity for any subse quent rewinding of the unusedmill roll material, thereby effecting further overall operatingeconomies.

It is the object of the present invention to provide means foraccomplishing the above stated purposes.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanyingdrawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a semi-schematic side elevational view of a web slittingapparatus of the invention such as may be used in association with aweb-fed rotary printing press operation as illustrated fragmentarilytherein;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged scale fragmentary end elevational view taken asindicated at 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged scale view of the portion of theapparatus outlined at FIG. 3 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a top perspective view of a portion of the mechanism of FIG.1.

As shown by way of example in the drawing herewith, the invention isparticularly applicable to the use of a stndard width roll of paperwebbing or the like as indicated at 10, whenever it is desired to firstuse a reduced width portion of the paper web (as indicated at 12) tosupply a web-fed rotary press type printing machine or the like asindicated generally at 15 (FIG. 1). The standard width mill roll ismounted for unwinding on trunnion bearings 16 carried by pedestal framestructures 18 standing at opposite ends of the roll; the supply rollbeing thereby operatively aligned with the printing press ice web intakedrive roll mechanism such as is indicated generally at 20.

More specifically, the supply roll 10 and its unwind journalingarrangement is laterally positioned so that the prescribed width supplyweb 12 properly feeds into the printing press, and as illustrated atFIG. 1 the pedestal frames 18 will preferably be mounted on rollers 21runming on parallel tracks 22-22, to facilitate accurate registering ofthe mill roll relative to the printing plates, and also to facilitatesubsequent shifting of the mill roll to bring the previously unusedportion of the web supply into registry with the printing plates. Asshown herein by way of example, the printing press includes a series ofidling web guide rollers 22 leading the web portion 12 to train aroundthe printing press impression cylinder 24 while the printing platecylinder 25 bears against the moving web. As shown herein by way offurther example, the printed web thereupon trains around a dryercylinder as indicated at 26, and is then further processed as may berequired in accordance with conventional procedures.

The apparatus for slitting the paper web from the standard width roll soas to provide the delivered web 12 of prescribed width includes afloating beam structure such as illustrated generally at 30. Thestructure 30 comprises a base bar member 32 from which extend intriangular relation a pair of struts 3435 interconnected as by weldingor the like at the apex of the structure as indicated at 36. The basebar 32 is keyed by means of brackets 3737 upon a rod 38 which ispivotally journaled in stationary brackets 39-39 extending rigidly fromthe machine frame members 1S--18. As shown at FIGS. 1, 2, the rod 38carries a crank arm 40 to which a pneumatic cylinderpiston unit 42operatively connects as indicated at 44. The cylinder 42 is based uponthe machine frame and is controllable by the machine attendant tosimultaneously regulate the counterbalancing effects of the cylinderunit relative to the weight of the slitter support frame structure, andto damp any tendencies of the structure to bounce relative to the paperroll during the web slitting operation.

The beam structure 30 carries at its apex end portion a knife supportarm 46 (FIG. 3) which is mounted theatreon in freely pivotable relationas indicated at 47 to extend in cantilever relation therefrom. Thelowermost position of the outer end of the bar 46 relative to the beam30 is controlled by means of a screw 48 which screw-threads in fixedrelation at its lower end into the arm 46 and slide-fits at its upperend through a bored bracket portion 49 of the beam structure 30. Acompression spring 50 is provided to further cushion the knife actionrelative to the web supply roll. Lock nuts as shown at 51, 52, areprovided to permit regulation of the permissible downthrow of the arm 46relative to the beam 30 in response to action of the spring 50, foradjustments of the angle of approach of the knife edge to the mill rollperiphery for optimum cutting results. The arm 46 is formed with avertically inclined side wall portion as shown in FIG. 2 to accommodatein flat-mounted relation thereagainst a slitter blade 54 which is heldthereon in vertically inclined attitude by means of a cover plate 55 andflatheaded screws 56. The cutting edge of the slitter blade 54 issharply bevelled as indicated at 57, and the parts are dimensioned andrelatively arranged so that the cutter blade is adapted to descendvertically as it slits successive convolutions of the web of the roll10; the portion 12 thereof being thereupon free to unwind from the rollas it is pulled into the printing press by means of the mechanismindicated generally at 20. It is to be understood that the mechanism 20is power-driven in synchronism with the other rotating components of theprinting press so that the prescribed width web 12 is withdrawn from thesupply roll in strict symphony with the operation of the printing press.

It is of course a prime requisite to optimum operation of the mechanismthat the slitting blade 54 descends in a precisely vertical plane as itcuts progressively through successively presented convolutions of thesupply roll and ideally the mechanism will be adjusted so that the bladecuts through only the upper-most layer of web material as it unwindsfrom the supply roll. For this purpose the device of the inventionincludes a position control roller 60 comprising a typical ball orroller bearing assembly having its inner race or core 64 adjustablyfixed to the arm 46 by means of an eccentric mounting, as by means of ascrew as indicated at 66. Thus it will be understood that up looseningof the screw 66 the core 64 of the roller mount may be swivelled thereonso as .to adjust the vertical disposition of the roller bearing unitrela- .tive to the support arm 46, whereby the depth of the slittingoperation may be readily regulated to suit different paper thicknessesand/or other operational preferences.

It is a particular feature of the machine of the invention that it isadapted to slit a web as described hereinabove with uniform andcontinuous accuracy although the mill roll carrying the web may be of auneven peripheral contour and rotating at high speed. The cylinder unit42 is readily adjustable to operate in consonance with a large varietyof operational variables such as speed of mill roll rotation;irregularities in the roll peripheral contour, irregularities in thepaper web thickness, and/or other web cutting control factors, and thelike. For this purpose as shown in FIG. 1, the compressed air supplyline to the cylinder 42 includes an air flow rate control valve asindicated at 70, as well as a pressure regulator as indicated at 72.Thus, regulation of the pressure control device 72 will adjust thecounter-balancing effect of the cylinder unit so as to provide thedesired riding pressure of the knife blade against the paper web. On theother hand, manual adjustments of the air flow rate control valve 70will adjust the rate of cylinder-piston response to bouncing tendenciesof the cutter support arm such as may be induced by irregular mill rollprofile conditions.

It will also be understood that whereas the bracket and knife supportarm 46 have been illustrated and described hereinabove as being arrangedto extend substantially horizontally and to swing vertically, theinvention may with equal facility be embodied in a mechanism wherein thebracket and support arm members extend at any other attitude, so long asthey are mounted to swing at their free ends towards and away from theaxis of the mill roll. Thus, for example, the bracket and support armmembers may be mounted to hang vertically on their pivotal supports; theknife cutting pressure being then provided solely by the regulatedaction of the cylinder 42.

Thus, it will be apparent that the machine of the invention facilitatesthe use of standard width mill rolls of supply web material wherebysubstantial stock purchasing and warehousing economies may be effected;and furthermore features a machine which is readily adjustable invarious respects so as to avoid undesirable bouncing of the cuttingblade relative to the paper web, whereby continuously accurate depthslitting of the web convolutions on the mill roll may be realized.

It will of course be understood that whereas the web slitting knife 54as shown herein is of the straight edge blade type, any other suitabletype, such as a rotating circular blade or the like may be employed inlieu thereof. Furthermore, although only one form of the machine of theinvention has been illustrated and described in detail by way ofexample, various changes may be made without departing from the spiritof the invention or the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed as my invention is:

1. In a paper web slitting system for progressively severing consecutiveconvolutions of a rotatably mounted mill web supply roll wherein oneportion of the sliced web is being unwound from the mill roll after itis severed therefrom and wherein the other portion of the mill roll webis left undisturbed in rolled form thereon, the improvement comprising:

a web slitting mechanism including a bracket mounted by pivot means atone end upon a stationary support to be swingable at its free end towardand away from the mill roll axis while being restrained by said pivotmeans to move only in an arc paralleling the severed face of the millroll,

a knife support arm pivotally mounted upon the free end portion of saidbracket to extend in swingable relation thereon, attitude control meansinterconnecting said arm and said bracket providing manually adjustabledegrees of positive limitations on swinging movements of said armrelative to said bracket, and spring means in operative association withsaid bracket and said arm and operable to cushion and damp movements ofsaid support arm relative to said bracket,

a control roller mounted adjacent the free end of said support arm andbeing so positioned as to ride on the unwinding portion of the web, saidcontrol roller being positionally adjustable on said support arm,

and a blade knife carried by the free end portion of said support arm,

whereby positional adjustments of said control roller on said supportarm regulate the depth of cut of said blade.

2. A web slitting mechanism as set forth in claim 1 wherein said bracketcomprises a triangularly-shaped truss structure the base portion ofwhich is pivotably mounted at horizontally spaced positions uponstationary support means and one side leg portion thereof extendshorizontally in a direction parallel to the plane of severance of saidmill roll and terminates at the apex portion of said truss structurewhich is positioned substantially tangentially of the mill roll.

3. A web slitting mechanism as set forth in claim 1 wherein said knifesupport arm includes an inclined surface and against which said knifeblade is detachably fixed, said knife blade having a bevelled cuttingedge thereby disposed in the plane of severance of said mill rollwhereby said bevelled edge portion of said blade moves in said plane asthe blade cuts through successive convolutions of the mill roll web.

4. A web slitting mechanism as set forth in claim 1 wherein anoperably-adjustable pressure control device is associated with saidbracket for regulating the loadings of the mechanism on said knifeblade.

5. A web slitting mechanism as set forth in claim 4 wherein said controldevice includes means for damping oscillations of said bracket about itspivotal mounting.

6. A web slitting mechanism as set forth in claim 1 wherein said springmeans is adjustable to regulate the resiliency control thereof overoscillations of said knife support arm relative to said bracket.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ANDREW R. JUHASZ, PrimaryExaminer.

FRANK T. YOST, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 83425, 582, 649

